Barclays Upgrades Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) to “Equal Weight”

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) was upgraded by equities researchers at Barclays from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating in a research report issued on Friday, Marketbeat.com reports. The brokerage presently has a $300.00 target price on the medical research company’s stock, up from their prior target price of $230.00. Barclays‘s price target indicates a potential downside of 3.63% from the stock’s current price.

Several other equities analysts have also recently commented on AMGN. UBS Group reduced their target price on Amgen from $314.00 to $284.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 17th. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on shares of Amgen from $313.00 to $350.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, February 7th. Raymond James assumed coverage on shares of Amgen in a research note on Thursday, March 28th. They issued a “market perform” rating for the company. StockNews.com lowered shares of Amgen from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, March 28th. Finally, William Blair raised shares of Amgen from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and twelve have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Amgen presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $305.05.

Amgen Trading Up 11.8 %

Shares of AMGN opened at $311.29 on Friday. Amgen has a twelve month low of $211.71 and a twelve month high of $329.72. The stock has a market cap of $166.97 billion, a PE ratio of 44.47, a P/E/G ratio of 2.69 and a beta of 0.60. The company has a quick ratio of 1.13, a current ratio of 1.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 10.14. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $274.95 and its 200-day moving average price is $281.50.

Amgen (NASDAQ:AMGN) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The medical research company reported $3.96 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.76 by $0.20. Amgen had a net margin of 12.74% and a return on equity of 145.62%. The business had revenue of $7.45 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.45 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $3.98 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 22.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that Amgen will post 19.43 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Nancy A. Grygiel sold 2,117 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $313.09, for a total value of $662,811.53. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 9,883 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,094,268.47. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.46% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Amgen

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. OFI Invest Asset Management purchased a new stake in shares of Amgen in the third quarter worth $26,000. Briaud Financial Planning Inc bought a new stake in Amgen during the 3rd quarter valued at about $26,000. Horizon Financial Services LLC purchased a new position in Amgen in the first quarter worth about $28,000. BOK Financial Private Wealth Inc. bought a new position in shares of Amgen in the fourth quarter worth approximately $29,000. Finally, United Community Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Amgen during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Institutional investors own 76.50% of the company’s stock.

About Amgen

Amgen Inc discovers, develops, manufactures, and delivers human therapeutics worldwide. The company's principal products include Enbrel to treat plaque psoriasis, rheumatoid arthritis, and psoriatic arthritis; Otezla for the treatment of adult patients with plaque psoriasis, psoriatic arthritis, and oral ulcers associated with Behçet's disease; Prolia to treat postmenopausal women with osteoporosis; XGEVA for skeletal-related events prevention; Repatha, which reduces the risks of myocardial infarction, stroke, and coronary revascularization; Nplate for the treatment of patients with immune thrombocytopenia; KYPROLIS to treat patients with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma; Aranesp to treat a lower-than-normal number of red blood cells and anemia; EVENITY for the treatment of osteoporosis in postmenopausal for men and women; Vectibix to treat patients with wild-type RAS metastatic colorectal cancer; BLINCYTO for the treatment of patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia; TEPEZZA to treat thyroid eye disease; and KRYSTEXXA for the treatment of chronic refractory gout.